LaRondelle tells us what Law and Gospel is

Koot van wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD)

Visiting Professor

Kyungpook National University

Sangju Campus

South Korea

Conjoint lecturer of Avondale College

Australia

Gospel means good news and anticipates bad news. The bad news is the involvement of Lucifer in the Rebellion in Heaven and his role with this earth since and after the Fall of Adam and Eve. He was the R&D of sin. The mastermind. Gospel announcement to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:15 meant the Messiah promise and the Messiah was involved in the process of transforming what was bad back to its equilibrium. Harmony was to be restored. Harmony of what? Tranquility of everything around God. Tranquility is the law of God and breaking a relationship with God is to break the equilibrium and that is to break the law.

          Grace is essential since the Law was broken. Gospel restores broken situation of the law. The law is not done away with and never can be. Otherwise tranquility and equilibrium is broken and disharmony reigns.

           From the very beginning of any relationship of God is the imperative for obedience. To Adam, to Henoch, to Noah, to Abraham, to Moses just to mention a few. These men, says the Word of God, “walked with God”. Walking with God is the imperative that “presupposes the redemptive indicative” (says LaRondelle in Perfection 162). The obedience that God and Christ expect from the faithful is related to law and is a relationship within law. The sinner will always be negative about law and law will be negative to the sinner since it accuses the sinner. It kills the sinner sins it announces his sin. Law cannot solve the sin. But Grace did and the way it was done was not to overlook wrongdoing but actually to live without sin and then die sinless in order to be worthy to forgive and permit into heaven and to save from punishment of eternal death. Moses understood very well that the obedient person will “walk after Yahweh” in Deuteronomy 13:4 because He is testing the heart (Deuteronomy 13:3). The sinner is not left unsupported when conversion happens. Christ promised through Moses that He “made you walk erect” (Leviticus 26:12-13). That walking is in a road, not a road of perfection but following Yahweh. He says: “follow me”. There has to be a “wholehearted walk/fellowship with God” on His way, after Him (LaRondelle Perfection 101). It is not just 50% but 100% like Caleb (Joshua 14:8, 9, 14), Elijah (1 Kings 18:29), Josiah (2 Kings 23:3, 21) to mention a few. The way Mowinckel understood Torah or Law is that it came from the word horah which means “to show the way”. Walking behind Christ the way He did already, is to imitate Christ. The imitatio dei is necessary to restore the imago dei or image of God. The image of God, which is law in its perfection, was damaged since the Fall and can only be restored through a relationship with God, walking after Him in total obedience imitating Christ. Regardless what Christians are saying existentially about themselves, the 100% law keeping requirement of obedience, and that total, is constantly repeated throughout the Old and New Testaments.

           If God repeats the 100% obedience imperative, does He then not understand humans and their sin fully. It is an ignorant question. It is exactly what Christ did, said Paul, while he became acquainted with our infirmities and qualified to deal with it. The gospel indicative thus came to restore the broken law relationship. Moses heard God said that “you shall be blameless [tamim]” in Deuteronomy 18:13. To Abraham it was said “be blameless [tamim] in Genesis 17:1. Noah “walked with God” in Genesis 6:9.

           The absence of obedience to the law 100% as required brings with it curses. There is a curse in Genesis 3:17; a curse in Genesis 4:11; a curse in Genesis 9:25. But, not only is it promised that there will be curses when the law is broken, a blessing is also announced, the blessing of a Mediator in Genesis 12:3b and Genesis 18:17. In Genesis 3:15 the Messiah as Mediator is promised to Adam and Eve. It was to be fulfilled at the cross in 31 CE in the life and death of Christ.

           In conversion God “free from the power of sin” Deuteronomy 10:3, 4. He writes the law upon their hearts (Jeremiah 32:39), and He makes them walk erect in Leviticus 26:12-13 after Him or with Him.

           The Blessed man is the one Who is not walking in the counsel of the wicked nor stand in the path of the sinners nor sit in the seat of the scoffers but His delight is in the law of the Lord (Psalm 1:1-2). Christ became the Perfect One for all. It is the medicine for the broken relationship regarding law and accomplishing the law imperative.

           Perfection is after the Fall of Adam and Eve not a requirement but a gift. It is not inherent in the sinner but dependent of a walking mode, a persistent walk with God, following Him, imitating Him so that the image of God can be restored in him (LaRondelle Perfection 115).

           Part of this human engine of Hope is the reality of sin in humans. Sin is both an act and being. Moses understood it that there are sins by error but also sins with a high hand [beyad rama] (Numbers 15:27-31). David outlined it similar in Psalm 51:5 and 58:3.

           LaRondelle pointed out that because sin is also a sinful state therefore we stand in a continual need of Grace (Psalm 19:12-14 and 139:23-24). His point is that even though we are not sinning any longer we are sinners because we are sinful beings. The Gospel forgives when we daily walk with God.

           Although we are sinful human beings in continual need of Grace, our persistent walk after Him in complete dependence means that we have His blessings in us since He writes His law upon our hearts and we have His redemption for us, all in the daily relationship with him restoring the image of Himself in us. To be in this process is to be righteous and perfect (Job 12:4; Genesis 6:9; Psalm 7:9; 15:2; 18:22-23; 37:17-18; Proverbs 11:5).

           On the 31^st of July 2009 I got a letter from dr. Hans LaRondelle about this topic and he said to me:

“Thanks for you note on perfection, dear brother in Christ. You may even speak directly on the theme: What is Christian perfection? Starting with Matt. 5:48 and ending with Matt. 19:21. Yes, it is all about a transforming covenant relation with the living Lord. People tend to think of perfection as an end goal to be reached but can never be realized. In both the Old Testament and New Testament perfection denotes our present experiential walk with God that includes repentance of missteps. That is the surprise aspect: a sin repented of does not yet cut us off from the covenant God! That is the surprising biblical notion that must be taught. Also Psalm 19 indicates that King David knew about the twofold aspects of covenant faithfulness: forgiving grace and keeping grace. These are a few pastoral encouragements for your presentations.”